HTML5 and CSS3 Books to Watch for in 2010

Over the past year, new techniques and tricks involving HTML5 and CSS3 enhancements have been shared on a number of websites, giving developers new possibilities for improving the user experience.

Of course, the plethora of information online is hard to keep up with, and some of it may be out of date, inaccurate, or may fail to promote accessibility, progressive enhancement, or other best practices methods.

To that end, designers and developers today may prefer to have a desktop reference in the form of a good old ink and paper companion.

So in this article, I’ve compiled a list of eleven books that will be released in 2010 that focus on HTML5 and CSS3. Many of the authors listed alongside the titles below will be familiar to us, since some of them have established themselves online as zealous proponents of best practices and standards-based code.

HTML5 for Web Designers – Jeremy Keith

The HTML5 spec is 900 pages and hard to read. HTML5 for Web Designers is 85 pages and fun to read. Easy choice.

HTML5 is the longest HTML specification ever written. It is also the most powerful, and in some ways, the most confusing.

What do accessible, content-focused standards-based web designers and front-end developers need to know?

And how can we harness the power of HTML5 in today’s browsers?

In this brilliant and entertaining user’s guide, Jeremy Keith cuts to the chase, with crisp, clear, practical examples, and his patented twinkle and charm.

Release Date: June, 2010

Pre-order – Publisher’s Website – The first chapter on A List Apart

Hardboiled Web Design – Andy Clarke

Hardboiled Web Design will be more than just a CSS book. It will cover so many of the exciting possibilities offered by CSS3 (and HTML5) in ways that will be unique and will inspire people to eagerly grab hold of them with both fists.

“Hardboiled web design” is about not compromising and so making the best work we can for the web. Hardboiled is about challenging assumptions.

Hardboiled is never being afraid to push boundaries, break rules or invent new ones. Hardboiled is stripping our markup to the bone to make it more adaptable to whatever the web might throw at it. Hardboiled is not hesitating to make the most of new technologies.

The book will cover:

• Hardboiled web design
• Hardboiled HTML (HTML5, Microformats and WAI-ARIA)
• Hardboiled CSS3

Release Date: Fall 2010

Book Website – Table of Contents – Info From the Author

Introducing HTML5 – Bruce Lawson, Remy Sharp

Book Summary: We’re not one of the HTML 5 spec writers, and we’re not here to persuade you to use it.

Our take is that it’s going to happen, so we need to get acquainted.

But we’re going to point out (perhaps rant) about the good parts as well as the bad.

It’s as far as possible a practical book, showing you how to use the language but some areas of the spec will be discussed theoretically as they’re not yet implemented anywhere.

Release Date: July 5, 2010

Pre-order the book on Amazon – Official Website

HTML5 Now: A Step-by-Step Video Tutorial for Getting Started Today – Tantek Çelik

Browsers like Firefox and Safari, and numerous mobile devices (Apple iPhone, Google Android, Palm Pre) all have some support for HTML5 – but it’s not obvious what you can use.

That’s where this video and booklet step in. It delivers a solid introduction to HTML5 and how to get started today.

The video and booklet provide instruction, examples, and explanations to get started with using HTML5 immediately, both in new projects, and how to transition existing HTML and XHTML pages to HTML5.

All this is explained in ways that are compatible with existing browsers and shows authors how to progressively take advantage of new support in modern browsers and devices.

Release Date: July 9, 2010

Pre-order the book on Amazon – Publisher’s Website

HTML5: Up and Running – Mark Pilgrim

Even though work on HTML5 is ongoing, browsers such as Safari, Mozilla, Opera, and Chrome already support many of its features — and browsers for smart phones are even farther ahead, especially iPhone’s MobileSafari browser.

With HTML5: Up & Running, you’ll learn how this new version enables browsers to interact with JavaScript much more easily than before.

You’ll also learn how HTML5 can help you develop applications that:

• Display video directly in the browser, without having to rely on plugins
• Work even when a user is offline, by taking advantage of HTML5’s persistent storage
• Offer a drawing canvas for dynamically generated 2-D graphics

Release Date: June 15, 2010

Pre-order – Publisher’s Website

Beginning HTML5 and CSS3: Next Generation Web Standards – Christopher Murphy

For all forward-looking web professionals who want to start enjoying and deploying the new HTML5 and CSS3 features right away, this book provides you with an in-depth look the new capabilities—including audio and video—that are new to web standards.

You’ll learn about the new HTML5 structural sections, plus HTML5 and CSS3 layouts.

You’ll also discover why some people think HTML5 is going to be a Flash killer, when you see how to create transitions and animations with these new technologies.

What you’ll learn:

• The new features of HTML5 and how to work with HTML5 and CSS3
• The new web standards being implemented by all the major web browsers
• How to work with the new HTML5 structural sections
• How to create HTML5 and CSS3 layouts
• How to create transitions and animations without using Flash
• New web typography solutions

Release Date: August 15, 2010

Pre-Order – Publisher’s Website

Pro HTML5 Programming: Powerful APIs for Richer Internet Application Development – Lubbers, Albers, Salim

In this book, developers will learn how to use the latest cutting-edge HTML5 web technology—available in the most recent versions of modern browsers—to build web applications with unparalleled functionality, speed, and responsiveness.

• Explains how you can create real-time HTML5 applications that tap the full potential of modern browsers
• Provides practical, real-world examples of HTML5 features in action
• Shows which HTML5 features are supported in current browsers
• Covers all the new HTML5 APIs to get you up to speed quickly with HTML5

Release Date: June 15, 2010

Pre-order – Publisher’s Website

Beginning iPhone Web Apps: HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for WebKit – Estelle Weyl

This book will help you build sophisticated web apps, offering the skills and techniques you need to make your website look great on the iPhone and more.

What you’ll learn:

• Simple steps to make your website look great in all browsers, including on the iPhone.
• How to get a head start on CSS3 and other new web standards that will be coming to desktops soon.
• Why mobile browsers are different from desktop browsers: learn how to handle user actions such as touch, tilt, and shake.
• How Apple has defined the modern mobile user interface. Learn what they know.
• How to minimize bandwidth usage, and other tricks to make your site work on mobile devices.
• What you need to know to become an iPhone web applications developer.
• The differences between having to support IE6 versus using cutting edge CSS3 and CSS animations.

Release Date: September 15, 2010

Pre-order – Publisher’s Website

HTML5: Visualizing the Web – Matthew David

Implement the powerful new multimedia and interactive capabilities offered by HTML5, including style control tools, illustration tools, video, audio, and rich media solutions.

Reinforce your practical understanding of the new standard with demo applications and tutorials, so that execution is one short step away.

With HTML5, you’ll:

• Learn how to create images with SVG and Canvas
• Embed video and audio into your Web page
• Control your page layout and design with CSS3, embedded fonts, animation, transformation, 3D, and rounded borders
• Leverage the new HTML5 elements, such as <article>, <section>, <footer>, <header>, and <aside>
• Extend your Web applications to mobile devices such as the iPhone, Android, and WebOS mobile phones with HTML5 FORMs 2.0
• Implement the Geolocation API in your Web applications
• Apply SQL-like local data storage to your Web solutions

Release Date: July 18, 2010

Pre-order – Publisher’s Website

CSS3: Visual QuickStart Guide (5th Edition) – Jason Cranford Teague

With CSS3: Visual QuickStart Guide, readers can start with a tour of the stylesheet language, or skip ahead to any chapter of the book to look up specific tasks covering just what they need to know.

This task-based, visual reference guide uses step-by-step instructions, and plenty of screenshots to teach beginning and intermediate users CSS.

Best-selling author Jason Cranford Teague takes readers through today’s CSS essentials and provides extensive coverage of CSS3 and CSS 2.1 techniques.

The book outlines what can be done with CSS3 now and how the latest browsers have implemented many of the new features.

Both beginning users, who want a thorough introduction to CSS, and more advanced users, who are looking for a convenient reference, will find what they need here in straightforward language and through readily-accessible examples.

Release Date: August 23, 2010

Pre-order

HTML5 Straight to the Point: Using HTML5 with CSS3 and JavaScript – Elizabeth Castro

This project-based book walks the reader through the creation of a website using HTML5 and CSS3.

It shows how to use the new HTML5 syntax (<article>, <section>, and so on) and also how to write JavaScript to force IE to recognize that code so that it can be used right now.

It covers the newer parts of HTML5 (such as <canvas> and video) with a strong emphasis on what works right now, using what people are calling “progressive enhancement” (writing web pages that can be viewed by all but that those with superior connections/systems can see in better ways).

The book uses a combination of project examples and explanation to teach HTML5 thoroughly and succinctly.

Release Date: September 2, 2010

Pre-order

This post was written exclusively for Webdesigner Depot by Louis Lazaris, a freelance writer and web developer. Louis runs Impressive Webs where he posts articles and tutorials on web design. You can follow Louis on Twitter or get in touch with him through his website.

Are there any books we missed? Do you plan to buy any of these listed? Leave your comments below.

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